


i love you always forever

by callumsmitchells



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mutual I Love You, Three + One
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23427730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callumsmitchells/pseuds/callumsmitchells
Summary: All the times Ben says I love you and the one time Callum heard it
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 5
Kudos: 93





	i love you always forever

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: @callumsmitchells

_I love you._

_  
_Ben had said it a lot, actually. Just, not exactly to Callum’s face. There was an element of vulnerability to it, to say those three words to someone who looked at you as if you had hung the moon and the stars in the sky – and that was a vulnerability that Ben Mitchell, under no circumstances, would show. But he loves Callum, and with that feeling of butterflies and sweetness bubbling over in his stomach, Ben couldn’t help but say those three short yet meaningful words out loud, even if they were to nobody in particular.

**  
1**

  
The first time he spoke the words aloud, Callum had made Ben a cup of morning tea, alongside his cereal. Ben knew that Callum wasn’t a lover of either tea or coffee, and lived up to his sweet nature by the only hot beverage he enjoyed being hot chocolate. Despite this, ever since they had first gotten together, Callum made sure that Ben’s favourite teabags and coffee sachets were always stocked up in the flat, and it made Ben feel instantly at home.

  
Callum was due at work early that morning, a meeting on the other side of London with another undertakers, yet Callum still gave himself precious time to spend with Ben.

  
“What did I do to deserve you, eh?” Ben asked from above his mug.

  
Callum leaned down, put his hand through Ben’s hair, once, twice and then cupped his face, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. “Must’ve been an angel in a past life.” Callum responded. “Though I’ll believe that when I see it.”

  
Ben swatted Callum’s thigh, and then pulled him in a for a hug, wrapping his arms around Callum’s legs, his face pressed to his abdomen as Callum rested his hands at the back of Ben’s neck. 

  
“I’ll see you later tonight, alright?” Callum said, causing Ben to look up at him through his eyelashes. 

  
“Call me when you get there.” Ben said. That was their thing now. Always checking if the other one was safe. 

  
“Always.” Callum confirmed and pressed a kiss to the top of Ben’s hair, smiling into his hair. “Been using my shampoo again?”

  
Ben hummed in response and watched as Callum picked up his bag and walked out of the flat door. He heard footsteps descend for only a few short moments before he smiled to himself and whispered: “ _I love you.”_

**2**

  
The second time Ben had said those three words to Callum, he was fast asleep. 

  
Callum had the ability to fall asleep wherever he was, even if he did look uncomfortable. Ben was never surprised when he felt Callum’s head lean on his midway through them watching a film, because it had happened that often now. 

  
This time though, they had spent the whole day together, the rain pouring outside, obscuring the view from the window into a mash up of shapes and colours with no recognisable features. They hadn’t changed out of their pyjamas, Ben wrapped up in one of Callum’s hoodies, and Callum’s arms around him. Ben played aimlessly with Callum’s bare thigh, drawing patterns of swirls and hearts and words onto Callum’s skin. Callum would never admit it for fear of ruining the moment, but his heart completely flipped inside him when he felt Ben write ‘Callum Mitchell’ across his skin. 

  
“One more episode?” Callum asked, putting his lips on Ben’s head, inhaling his scent. 

  
Ben smiled up at him and nodded. “Don’t go falling asleep on me though.” He said. “I actually want you in bed tonight.”

  
Callum grinned and pressed _keep watching._

  
Ben got his wish. Callum had actually managed to stay awake as long as the show went on, and they had both ended up in bed together. The second Callum’s head hit the pillow, he was fast asleep, his mouth slightly ajar, exhaling warm breaths onto Ben’s skin. His hair was fluffy, pressed to his forehead and Ben knew that it would irritate him in the middle of the night, so with his index finger and thumb, he swiped Callum’s hair back, smiling to himself at Callum’s exposed forehead showing a little furrow between his eyebrows. 

  
“You’re beautiful.” Ben whispered, trying to not wake Callum up. He lightly touched Callum’s cheek, and smiled when Callum instinctively leaned into to the touch. _“I love you._ I’ll be strong enough to tell you that properly, one day.”

**3**

**  
**Callum was always aware that Ben came as a package deal. He could deal with his family, having been brought up in an equally as chaotic one himself – albeit with significantly less London’s answer to the mafia about them. Callum could handle the Mitchell’s, but the one person he couldn’t handle, was Lexi. The thought of Ben’s little girl terrified him. Not that she was particularly terrifying herself, of course, she was a tiny little girl and Callum was six foot and towering over everyone. But he knew that if Lexi didn’t like him, that would ruin his and Ben’s relationship.

  
Luckily, it never came to that. Lexi had taken their relationship in her stride, and loved nothing more than waking up in a morning and eating her breakfast with Callum, sitting on his lap whilst the television plays out her favourite show. She started to refer to him as _‘Cal’_ , and he’d even been given the highest honour of being guest to one of her royal tea parties. 

  
Ben looked on at Callum and Lexi as he picked her up, swinging her around. All three of them had days out together, taking Lexi to different parks, letting her burn off her childish energy by letting her run about on the grass, doing cartwheels and handstands. “Don’t make her sick!” He shouted. “Lo would never forgive us.” 

  
Callum looked back at Ben and grinned, holding his hand out and waiting for Ben to reach him, engulfing his hand, intertwining their fingers together. “Ready to head back?” Callum asked, swinging their connected hands between their bodies, watching Lexi running ahead of them. 

  
“Yeah.” Ben said, resting his head on Callum’s broad shoulder. “Can we get ice cream first?” 

  
Callum smiled. “Suppose I can spare a couple of quid.” He squeezed Ben’s hand and shouted out to Lexi. “Lex! Want some ice cream?” 

  
They barely had to wait for a response, because she stopped what she was doing and started bouncing up and down on the spot, her blonde hair flying all over the place. “Yes please Cal!” 

  
“The princess has spoken.” Callum said softly. “And Lexi.”

  
Ben’s jaw dropped open in shock, before he laughed in disbelief. “You better start running.”

  
Callum grinned, pressed a kiss to Ben’s lips and set off running, catching up with Lexi. Ben waited back, his lips tingling from Callum’s touch. He watched as Callum picked Lexi up with ease, placing her on his back. Ben shook his head softly, unable to take his eyes off of the two most important people in his life.

  
This time, he said it louder. Above a whisper, but nowhere near loud enough for anyone to hear him. “God, I love you so much.”

**\+ 1**

_**  
**I love you._

_  
_It was the early hours when Ben finally admitted it to Callum’s face, the day before his birthday. He’d managed to somehow climb out of bed and find all the presents he’d hidden away, and made a start on wrapping them before Callum had realised that Ben was missing.

  
_I love you._

_  
_Ben was deaf. Callum, temporarily blinded with his eyes shut, not wanting to ruin the surprise element of his presents. There was a joke in there, somewhere. “Ain’t nice is it?” Ben asked. “Not knowing what’s going on all the time.”

_  
I love you._

_  
_Somehow, Callum’s words always managed to melt Ben. He knew all the right things to say, even if he wasn’t aware of it. “Look, maybe you won’t be like this forever. Hopefully, the operation will work. But you are like this now, Ben. And if your dad don’t want to know, then he don’t deserve you. Because who you are Ben, is amazing. Dealing with all of this is amazing, and you are stronger than him, or Danny, can ever be. And yeah, you are deaf, yeah. And you might always be deaf for the rest of your life, but that is okay. And if your dad can’t be there for that, then I am.”

  
_I love you._

_  
_Tears formed in Ben’s eyes at Callum’s words, his bottom lip trembling. In his chest, his heart beat trebled, and Ben was scared that Callum could hear every thump of his heart. Blood rushed to his head, his temples aching, and Ben swore he could hear every word that Callum spoke to him. The thoughts had been swirling around Ben’s brain for months now, and in recent days and weeks he had been thinking of all the ways he could say it. None of his ideas resembled a moment like this, but without connecting his brain to his mouth, the words finally escaped.

  
_“I love you.”_

_  
_Callum opened his eyes and shared a look at Ben, a look of contentment and love and bewilderment and shock and Callum couldn’t think straight.

  
Ben had tried to go back on what he said but he couldn’t. Callum reached down and tapped his hand, bringing it back up and pressed fingers to his chest, pointing towards himself. Then both hands pressed to his chest. Then a finger pointed in Ben’s direction. Ben knew what he was saying, of course he did. He’d secretly learned it days ago, and had put it at number three on his list of ways to say those three words to Callum. Ben looked on in shock, despite knowing that Callum loved him. Barely seconds later their lips were interlocked and all Ben’s head was capable of thinking was: _I love you and you love me._


End file.
